1. Field of the Invention
The field of invention relates to auto rack type railway cars and more specifically pertains to a folding door structure provided at the end of the car, which end is utilized for the loading and unloading of automobiles.
2. Description of the Prior Art
U.S. Pat. No. 3,911,831 discloses foldable doors provided at the end closure of a rail car carrying automobiles.
In this particular arrangement outer folding doors are connected on a vertical hinge which is provided at the extreme ends of the car. The folding door arrangement is also shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,996,860 and in this case the panels are folded and swung outwardly to the sides or rear ends of the car where they are stored in the open position.
Another patent disclosing a hinge arrangement for folding doors is U.S. Pat. No. 4,084,516, Apr. 18, 1978, this patent also showing a vertical pivot folding door arrangement mounted at the extreme ends of the railway car. The hinge arrangement is entirely different from the present invention wherein the vertical hinge point is spaced considerably inwardly from the end of the car and also spaced considerably laterally of the side wall of the car. A hinge arrangement, similar to the above patents is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 3,938,446, Feb. 17, 1976, which discloses the hinge point at the extreme ends of the car and against the side wall thereof with a rack and pinion movement provided for the folding doors to place them in a flush closed position. U.S. Pat. No. 3,854,425, Dec. 17, 1974, discloses individual door sections for each of the deck arrangements and again a conventional hinging action for the folding doors is achieved at the end of the car and almost in line with the side wall of the car. In the present improved invention an entirely different hinging action is achieved by placing the hinge point at a certain position and including a novel spherical bearing arrangement. Further the present invention is an improvement over the aforementioned patents and discloses a novel locking mechanism for locking the doors in either open or closed position.